Maine’s health, which had never been strong, gave way towards the end of 1887. He went to the Riviera under medical advice, and died at Cannes on the 3rd of February 1888. He left a wife and two sons, of whom the elder died soon afterwards.
An excellent summary of Maine’s principal writings may be seen in Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff’s memoir. The prompt and full recognition of Maine’s genius by continental publicists must not pass unmentioned even in the briefest notice. France, Germany, Italy, Russia have all contributed to do him honour; this is the more remarkable as one or two English publicists of an older school signally failed to appreciate him. Maine warned his countrymen against the insularity which results from ignorance of all law and institutions save one’s own; his example has shown the benefit of the contrary habit. His prominent use of Roman law and the wide range of his observation have made his works as intelligible abroad as at home, and thereby much valuable information—for example, concerning the nature of British supremacy in India, and the position of native institutions there—has been made the property of the world of letters instead of the peculiar and obscure possession of a limited class of British public servants. Foreign readers of Maine have perhaps understood even better than English ones that he is not the propounder of a system but the pioneer of a method, and that detailed criticism, profitable as it may be and necessary as in time it must be, will not leave the method itself less valid or diminish the worth of the master’s lessons in its use. The rather small bulk of Maine’s published and avowed work may be explained partly by a fine literary sense which would let nothing go out under his name unfinished, partly by the drawbacks incident to precarious health. Maine’s temperament was averse from the labour of minute criticism, and his avoidance of it was no less a matter of prudence. But it has to be remembered that Maine also wrote much which was never publicly acknowledged. Before he went to India he was one of the original contributors to the Saturday Review, founded in 1855, and the inventor of its name. Like his intimate friend Fitzjames Stephen, he was an accomplished journalist, enjoyed occasional article-writing as a diversion from official duties, and never quite abandoned it. The practice of such writing probably counted for something in the freedom and clearness of Maine’s style and the effectiveness of his dialectic. His books are a model of scientific exposition which never ceases to be literature.
See Sir A. Lyall and others, in Law Quart. Rev. iv. 129 seq. (1888); Sir F. Pollock, “Sir Henry Maine and his Work,” in Oxford Lectures, &c. (1890); “Sir H. Maine as a Jurist,” Edin. Rev. (July 1893); Introduction and Notes to new ed. of Ancient Law (1906); Sir M. E. Grant Duff, Sir Henry Maine: a brief Memoir of his Life, &c. (1892); Notes from a Diary, passim; L. Stephen, “Maine” in Dict. Nat. Biog. (1893); Paul Vinogradoff, The Teaching of Sir Henry Maine (1904).
(F. Po.)
MAINE, an old French province, bounded N. by Normandy, E. by Orléanais, S. by Touraine and Anjou, and W. by Brittany. Before the Roman Conquest the region occupied by this province was inhabited by the Aulerci Cenomanni and the Aulerci Diablintes; under the Roman empire it consisted of two civitates comprised in the Provincia Lugdunensis Tertia—the Civitas Cenomannorum and the Civitas Diablintum, whose chief towns were Le Mans and Jublains. These two civitates were united during the barbarian period and formed a single bishopric, that of Le Mans, suffragan to the metropolitan see of Tours. Under the Merovingians and Carolingians the diocese of Le Mans corresponded to the Pagus Cenomanensis, and in the feudal period to the county of Maine. In the 16th century the county of Maine, with the addition of Perche, formed a military government—the province of Maine. Since 1790 this province has been represented approximately by the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, the respective capitals of which are Le Mans and Laval. In 1855 the bishopric of Laval was separated from that of Le Mans. Maine was evangelized in the 3rd century by St Julian. After forming part of the kingdom of Syagrius, it was conquered by Clovis at the end of the 5th century. Owing to the scarcity of documents the history of Maine until the end of the 9th century is merged in the history of the bishops of Le Mans, which has come down to us in the Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium (ed. Busson-Ledru, Le Mans, 1901), composed under the direction of Bishop Aldric (832-857). Roger (c. 892-c. 898) was perhaps the first hereditary count of Maine; the counts whose existence is certain are Hugh I. (c. 939-before 992), Hugh II. (before 992-1015), Herbert I. (1015-1032 to 1036), Hugh III. (1032 to 1036-1051), Herbert II. (1051-1062), William the Bastard (1063-1087), Robert Curthose (1087-1091), Hugh IV. (1091-1092) and Helias (1092-1110). Maine, which was in the vassalage of Anjou as early as the 9th century, was united to Anjou in 1110 by the marriage of Count Helias’s daughter to Fulk V., count of Anjou, and passed to the English crown in 1154, when Henry Plantagenet (who was born at Le Mans) became king of England. In 1204, after the confiscation of the estates of John of England, Maine was united to France; in 1246 it was separated from France by Louis IX., who handed it over to his brother Charles, count of Provence. Again united to France in 1328, it was given in 1356 as an apanage to Louis, second son of King John II., and did not definitely return to the French crown until 1481, after the death of Charles II., count of Maine. During the Hundred Years’ War Maine was taken in 1425 by the English, who lost it in 1448.
See Histoire de l’église du Mans, by Dom Piolin (Paris, 1851-1858), which is useful but out of date; Revue historique et archéologique du Maine (1876); La Province du Maine (1893); B. Hauréau, Histoire littéraire du Maine (1870-1877).
MAINE, a North Atlantic state of the United States of America, the most north-easterly state in the Union, and the largest of the New England group. It lies between 43° 4′ and 47° 27′ 33″ N., and between 66° 56′ 48″ and 71° 6′ 41″ W. It is bounded N.W. by the Canadian province of Quebec; N. and E. by the Canadian province of New Brunswick, from which it is separated in part by the natural barriers of the Saint John River, the Grand (or Schoodic) Lakes, the Saint Croix River, and Passamaquoddy Bay; S.S.E. by the Atlantic Ocean; and W. by New Hampshire, the Piscataqua and Salmon Falls rivers being the natural boundary lines at the S.W. The area of the state is 33,040 sq. m., 3145 sq. m. being water surface.
Maine attracts more summer visitors than any other state in the Union. This is due to the cool and refreshing summer climate; the picturesque coast and its many islands, which are favourite grounds for camps and summer cottages; the mountains, and the beautiful lakes and rivers, many of which afford opportunities for good fishing and canoeing. Among the more widely known resorts are Mount Desert Island, on which is Bar Harbor, a fashionable summer place of great beauty; Long Island, Orr’s and other islands in Casco Bay; Old Orchard, with a gently sloping white sand sea-beach 9 m. long, Rangeley and Moosehead Lakes, favourite resorts of fishermen and hunters; Mt Katahdin, in the heart of the moose country; and Poland Springs (38 m. by rail from Portland) in Androscoggin county, near lake Anasigunticook. About 1870, camps, summer cottages, summer hotels and boarding houses began to multiply throughout the state. The needs of this summer population gave a new impulse and a new turn to agriculture; and the demand for souvenirs revived among the Indians basket-weaving, moccasin-making, and such crafts.